Maintenance and Backstabbing

Name: Du Ge;

ID: 48699527;

Mental Power: 60;

Current Ranking: 3000/3000;

Session Keywords: Maintain;

Session Keywords: Backstab;

Advanced Skills: None;

Derivative Items: None;

Du Ge opened his eyes. A string of data floated before him, illusory and filled with a sense of technology. Through the data, he could see the dust-covered beams, rafters, and purlins of the roof.

The ancient architectural style clearly did not belong to the modern era.

Transmigration? A dream?

A faint scent of blood and sour rot lingered at the tip of his nose. The smell was deeply unpleasant. Du Ge instinctively tried to sit up, but the intense pain throughout his body caused him to collapse back down.

Hiss!

Du Ge groaned. Only then did he feel that his entire body, his very internal organs, felt as if they had been torn apart; there was not a single spot that did not ache.

Damn it!

Du Ge grimaced. This body must have been beaten by dozens of people!

However, this also confirmed that he had transmigrated and was definitely not dreaming. If it were a dream, he would have woken up from this much pain long ago.

Du Ge sighed inwardly. These days, the methods of transmigration were becoming increasingly absurd; they didn't even spare him while he was sleeping.

"Don't waste your effort. Your injuries are worse than mine. You won't be able to move for at least a month without resting," a slurred voice came from nearby.

Du Ge turned his head. Another wounded person was lying on the wooden bed next to him.

The man's face was swollen like a pig's head, a blood-stained, dirty rag stuffed into one nostril. His swollen eyes looked at Du Ge askance, his mouth moving incessantly.

He had one functional arm, which was tearing at the straw mat beneath him, continuously feeding dry, withered reed stems into his mouth as if they were the most delicious delicacy in the world.

However, seeing the grimacing expression on his face as he swallowed, Du Ge knew the straw mat was not tasty at all. At this moment, a twenty-centimeter square chunk had already been gnawed off the reed-woven mat.

Had their family circumstances become so pathetic that they had to eat the mat?

Du Ge assessed his current situation with a sense of sorrow. Could it be that the person he had transmigrated into was not only severely injured but also so poor he couldn't even afford food?

What kind of person had he transmigrated into?

What a miserable start!

Du Ge refocused on his personal data, secretly feeling fortunate that, at least, he had a golden finger...

The man continued to chew while asking, "Brother, what are your keywords?"

Du Ge froze, instinctively looking at the two keywords in his personal profile: "Maintain" and "Backstab." What was going on?

Did everyone have a panel?

It wasn't his exclusive golden finger?

This is...

"Stop pretending." The man smiled with difficulty. "I watched you possess this body. Don't believe that nonsense from the teachers at the Civilian School about not revealing your keywords; it's all a lie. This is a Simulation Field trial, not a real Alien Battlefield. Only through cooperation can we both win. If we don't cooperate, given your current physical state, I could eliminate you in minutes once I recover. Believe me?"

Simulation Field?

Alien Battlefield?

What were those?

Du Ge became increasingly confused. He hated this feeling. Losing all information was extremely unfriendly to a transmigrator. Since he had already transmigrated, why didn't he get the host's memories?

After a moment of silence, Du Ge calmed down and asked, "The premise of cooperation is honesty. You tell me your keywords first."

"Honesty?" The man scoffed, shaking the piece of reed mat in his hand. "I'm eating these inedible straw mats non-stop. With such an obvious hint, what do you think my keyword is?"

Du Ge said gloomily, "People can be deceptive."

"That's that Civilian School nonsense again..." The man looked at Du Ge in disbelief, then laughed in frustration. "I'm impressed by your train of thought. You think I'm gnawing on a mat even a dog wouldn't eat just to trick you? Who do you think you are?"

A keyword related to eating?

Du Ge associated it with his own keywords and probed, "Gluttony?"

"To hell with gluttony, don't play dumb like that," the man said angrily. "My keyword is Taotie."

"Taotie?" Du Ge repeated in surprise.

"Exactly." The man grew smug, shaking the reed stems in his hand. "As long as I keep eating, I can grow rapidly. It's one of the best keywords. Before I possessed this body, my injuries were about the same as yours. I finished two bowls of rice and ate a piece of the mat, and now I can already sit up. Brother, let's cooperate; you'll get a huge bargain. Otherwise, with your injuries, you're nine-to-one likely not to make it."

Du Ge looked at the two empty bowls in front of him, then at the empty space by his own bed. He didn't care that the guy had stolen his food, but instead focused on the core of his words: Taotie, as long as one keeps eating, one can grow rapidly...

It seemed that keywords were the key to breaking the deadlock.

Du Ge pondered. His keywords were Maintenance and Backstab. Since Taotie meant to eat, then Maintenance and Backstab...

Two definitions surfaced in his mind:

Maintenance: To sustain, protect, or keep from damage; synonyms: repair, upkeep, protection, cover.

Backstab: A strike from behind, a stab in the back; synonyms: betrayal, sneak attack.

Before transmigrating, Du Ge had been a Chinese literature major; he understood these words perfectly. Since Taotie grew by eating things, then by extension, his key to growth should be maintaining others.

But if there was Maintenance, why was the second keyword Backstab?

The two should be in conflict!

No.

That guy only mentioned one keyword earlier...

Du Ge looked at the man and asked ambiguously, "Anything else?"

"What else could there be?" the man retorted, then sneered, "Brother, don't be too greedy. I'm the one holding the initiative right now..."

"My keyword is Maintenance." Since the other party only revealed one, Du Ge hid one as well.

There were too many things he didn't understand. Regardless of the other's intentions, the intelligence he could glean—true or false—was far better than fumbling in the dark alone.

Using one keyword was enough to gain his trust. Besides, a keyword like Backstab, which required stealth to be effective, didn't need to be disclosed. Du Ge was even prepared to make up another word if the man pressed him.

"Maintenance?" The man had no intention of pressing further. His eyes lit up, and he swallowed the straw mat in his mouth with effort. "A support-type keyword, that's great! You really are a heaven-sent partner. It wasn't in vain that I chased you here to possess this body. You protect me, I'll eat like crazy, and I'll carry you to the top. We'll kick everyone else out..."

The other party showed no sign of having a second keyword. Could it be that he only had one?

It seemed he did have a golden finger, though it remained to be verified...

Du Ge chuckled, trying to get closer: "Brother, what's your name?"

The man replied, "Feng Jiu."

"Your real name?" Du Ge asked.

"Of course, it's the name of this body." Feng Jiu chuckled. "Little brother, our friendship is limited to this simulation. We take what we need. Once we leave the Simulation Field, we won't know each other. Understand?"

"Understood." Du Ge nodded, not asking further.

This was the second time Feng Jiu mentioned the Simulation Field. Combining it with the current situation, Du Ge deduced that the Simulation Field likely referred to the current world.

Simulating a real world for people to play in?

Du Ge examined his surroundings.

The architecture, the smells, and the pain in his body...

Everything was incredibly lifelike.

If such a realistic world was virtual, how high must the technological level of the other world be?

If it were a game, there should be an exit button!

Du Ge looked at his character panel again. He couldn't find an exit button, but he noticed a change in the numbers. The current ranking, which was 3000/3000, had changed to 1115/1213.

"1213?" Du Ge muttered to himself.

"Those are the unlucky bastards who failed their possession attempts," Feng Jiu sighed, looking at Du Ge. "Brother, I have to say, with your mental strength, it's incredibly lucky that you managed to possess a severely wounded body."

A sixty percent elimination rate?

Du Ge followed the lead in his words to keep fishing for information: "Ninth Brother, you say if we work together, can we eliminate others?"

"Definitely." Feng Jiu bared his teeth and continued gnawing on the straw mat. "My keyword is Taotie, the definition of an easy win. With your Maintenance, it would be against the laws of heaven if we didn't make the top ten. Don't worry, if I can make the top ten, I can definitely bring you along. Otherwise, with your unremarkable Maintenance, it would be a miracle if you could grow at all."

"Ninth Brother, I'm counting on you." Du Ge squeezed out a smile. "Ninth Brother, I wonder what kind of identity the guy we possessed had? Tell me about it, I don't know anything, I don't want to blow my cover..."

"You don't have the memories?" Feng Jiu asked, stunned.

Sure enough, he was the only one without memories. What a damn trap!

Du Ge cursed inwardly and said dejectedly, "Not a single bit. I don't know what went wrong."

Feng Jiu looked at Du Ge with pity, clicking his tongue. "Maybe the guy you transmigrated into was too badly hurt and died during the possession, so the memories were lost! This has happened in the Simulation Field before. It's lucky you met me; otherwise, with a support-type keyword and no memories, how would you even survive?"

Phew!

Du Ge let out a soft breath and smiled bitterly: "Just bad luck, I guess."

"You're in luck now that you've met me." Feng Jiu spat out some straw residue he couldn't swallow and cursed, "Damn, this tastes like hell. Once I recover, if I don't eat delicacies every single meal, it wouldn't be worth the suffering of gnawing on this mat."

He tore off another piece of the mat and stuffed it into his mouth. "Your name in this world is Feng Qi, and I am Feng Jiu. Our status is that of sparring partners for the young masters and disciples of the Feng Family."

Du Ge was puzzled: "Sparring partners?"

"Basically, human punching bags." Feng Jiu spat out more straw. "Those young masters don't treat sparring partners like people at all. Otherwise, why do you think we're so badly hurt? But we did benefit from it; if they hadn't been beaten so badly, it wouldn't have been so easy for us to possess them..."

Punching bags?

Du Ge's face darkened instantly. It was indeed a miserable start.

He continued to ask: "Ninth Brother, any other key information?"

"In half a year, the Qiao Family Holy Land will open. The tenth Martial Arts Tournament will be held then to select outstanding young people from the martial arts world to enter the Holy Land for treasure hunting. This should be the main storyline of the world. We must find a way to participate in the Martial Arts Tournament; only by getting close to the main storyline can we achieve a good ranking." Feng Jiu looked at Du Ge and said seriously, "The young masters and direct disciples of the Feng Family are preparing for the Martial Arts Tournament, and they've been torturing us sparring partners viciously, which is why we're so badly hurt. Our top priority is to find a way to escape the Feng Family, otherwise, we'll be trained to death sooner or later..."